Rural Hospitals Fear Cuts

Rural Hospital leaders told lawmakers this week that they are facing challenges to stay open for rural residents. Lawmakers said they are trying to find ways to protect and even expand health care into rural America. A DTN report says senators and representatives met with members of the National Rural Health Association, which is made up of hospital administrators and rural clinics, during the association’s policy conference, which is going on as Congress is getting set to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The administrators say there is no good way of eliminating the policy without causing millions of people to potentially lose their health care. Hospitals are typically the biggest employers in rural towns and can be a very important part of recruiting new businesses to their area. The loss of a hospital in a small town often leads to a reduction in property values in rural communities. Association leaders also are afraid the push to repeal the ACA will lead to cuts in Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for the poor, which would hit rural hospitals much harder than their urban counterparts.